In a conventional hand pull type of parking brake control for a motor vehicle a pull or actuating rod is directly connected to a parking brake cable The rod is provided with ratchet teeth that cooperate with spring pressed pawls that hold the rod in an extended brake applied position. To release the brake the rod is twisted to disengage the pawls to permit the rod to be moved forwardly whereby tension in the brake cable is relieved. Such devices permit only a single stroke and provide no mechanical advantage in tensioning the brake cable. Therefore, cable tension is limited, in part, by the length of the stroke.
The present invention provides an improvement in parking brake controls for motor vehicle brake systems. In order to improve the tensioning capability of mechanical brake actuating mechanisms while maintaining a desired level of operator effort, a parking brake control is provided having an actuating rod that may be stroked a plurality of times. The control of this disclosure permits a desirable high mechanical advantage ratio so that the parking brake cable may be properly tensioned while permitting operator effort upon the rod to be within acceptable limits.